The Loysville Youth Development Center is a detention facility for boys aged 12-21 who have been adjudicated delinquent. It has a history of mistreating the children in its care.
Increasing numbers of former residents are claiming they were sexually abused while living at the facility. If you were one of them, consider joining the Loysville Youth Development Center lawsuits. The attorneys at Phillips Law Group offer aggressive, compassionate representation to survivors of institutional sexual abuse.
Reports of Abuse at Loysville Go Back Decades
Loysville is a state-run institution that is charged with housing, educating, and rehabilitating boys and young men determined to be juvenile delinquents. Credible reports of possible abuse of residents have been circulating for many years.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) surveyed juvenile detention facilities with more than 90 children in 2008-09, including Loysville. The DOJ’s report, issued in 2010, found that 12 percent of children held in juvenile detention facilities reported sexual abuse while they were confined. In 2010, a staff assistant in a residential cottage was charged with sexual abuse for allegedly having sex with an 18-year-old resident of the facility.
These events should have alerted the state and facility managers that children were not safe at Loysville. However, emerging accounts from former residents indicate that nothing changed, and residents continued to suffer sexual abuse from employees and other residents. The attorneys at Phillips Law Group are collecting accounts of sexual abuse at Loysville Youth Development Center and intend to file lawsuits on behalf of the survivors.
Understanding Civil Sex Abuse Claims
Many of the incidents reported at the Loysville facility are crimes. Only prosecutors can bring criminal charges that might lead to jail time or other severe consequences; however, survivors of sexual abuse can bring a civil lawsuit regardless of whether a perpetrator was ever charged with a crime.
Survivors who win a civil lawsuit receive financial compensation—often called damages. A survivor can claim damages to cover past and future treatment of any physical and psychological injuries they suffered due to the abuse.
If the sexual abuse impaired a survivor’s ability to succeed at school or work, they can receive damages for the limitations on their earning capacity. They may also claim compensation for the impact the abuse had on their self-esteem and ability to find and maintain fulfilling personal relationships. The attorneys at Phillips Law Group can help sexual abuse survivors describe the impact the abuse had on their ability to find happiness and success and demand appropriate compensation for those losses from Loysville Youth Development Center and other defendants.
Lawsuits Hold Offenders Accountable
Survivors are sometimes reluctant to come forward as they may not have fully processed what happened to them and could be uncomfortable discussing their experience. Many survivors did not complain at the time the abuse occurred and are afraid they will not be believed now.
Some survivors would like to seek justice for what happened to them but are afraid of the publicity that surrounds this type of legal action. Sexual abuse survivors who are hesitant for this reason should know that Pennsylvania law allows them to sue under a pseudonym, and the attorneys at Phillips Law Group will handle every aspect of the Loysville case with the utmost respect for their privacy.
Most cases of this type never go to trial but are settled by the defendants’ insurance companies. Although money cannot restore what survivors lost, a defendant’s acknowledgment that they caused harm can be healing. Participating in an institutional sexual abuse lawsuit often helps survivors regain a sense of control and empowerment.
Seek Justice for Sexual Abuse at Loysville With Phillips Law Group
If you were confined at Loysville, you needed support, nurture, and direction. Instead, you may have experienced heinous abuse.
You can join other survivors in the Loysville Youth Development Center sexual abuse lawsuits. Contact the team at Phillips Law Group to schedule a free consultation and explore how we assist survivors of institutional sexual abuse.
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